Trade proves costly for L.A.
Utley deal sends Dodgers’ payroll near $300 million.
Chase Utley’s acquisition put the Los Angeles Dodgers close to becoming the first baseball team with a $300 million luxury-tax payroll.
The trade Wednesday that sent the six-time All-Star second baseman from Philadelphia to the NL West leaders raised the Dodgers’ projected payroll for tax purposes to about $298.5 million, according to calculations by Major League Baseball.
Performance bonuses for other players and endof-season award bonuses could make the Dodgers the first team to reach the $300 million threshold.
“That’s fine. They haven’t won the championship,” Baltimore All-Star outfielder Adam Jones said. “You still have to play between the lines — same thing with the Yankees in the ’90s and 2000s.
“... Los Angeles is the second-biggest city in the United States. They can support it. I don’t have to pay it!”
Luxury tax payrolls are based on average annual values of contracts for the 40-man roster and include about $13 million per team in benefits.
Los Angeles is well above the $189 million tax threshold and will pay at a 40 percent rate for exceeding the mark for the third straight year. Its projected tax bill is about $44 million, which would top the record $34 million paid by the New York Yankees after the 2005 season.
The Dodgers’ luxury tax payroll includes about $40 million for players no longer with the organization.
Los Angeles paid $11.4 million in tax in 2013 and $26.6 million last year, when its tax payroll was $277.7 million.
Tigers: Left-hander Daniel Norris went on the 15-day disabled list after he left in the fifth inning of Wednesday’s 15-8 win over the Cubs in Chicago with a right oblique strain.
Right-hander Anibal Sanchez joins Norris on the DL with a right rotator cuff strain. Tigers manager Brad Ausmus said Sanchez will be out “a minimum of two weeks.”
Rangers: Outfielder Josh Hamilton went on the disabled list for the second time this season. The cause is inflammation in the left knee, which had forced him to miss the previous four games. Hamilton will be eligible to return on Aug. 31, at San Diego.
Will Venable, acquired from San Diego on Tuesday, replaces Hamilton in left.
Diamondbacks: Righthander Jeremy Hellickson went on the 15-day DL with a strained left hamstring and recalled righty Chase Anderson from Triple-A Reno.
Giants: Acquired 37-year-old outfielder Marlon Byrd (.237, 19 homers, 42 RBIs) and cash from the Reds for minor league right hander Stephen Johnson. Byrd is scheduled to join the Giants today in Pittsburgh.